Cutting it

Oh dear, it's been a disastrous few days Chez Linzerello. I've managed to incapacitate myself somewhat with a small cut to the finger on Saturday morning which was perfectly placed to slice a couple of tendons, resulting in a permanently pointy finger.

Amazing. I'm still awaiting surgery to fix it (they've cancelled on me 3 times already) so fingers crossed (no pun intended) they see me today. It's a bloody nightmare as I won't be able to drive for 2 months once they fix me and we're supposed to be flying out to Greece next Thursday for our friends wedding. What an utter dickhead I am...

On the plus side, I've had to be nil by mouth every day since Saturday until mid afternoon (whilst I await confirmation of surgery or not) which has resulted in me losing 10 pounds since last Tuesday. There's a lot to be said for fasting it would seem!

So, exercise is scuppered (other than a couple of long walks) and eating is also somewhat impacted.

I'm off to hospital again today, so I really hope they sort it today. Although once they fix me, I can't drive for 2 months and my hand will be completely useless for a while. It almost doesn't seem worth it.

Best laid plans

Ok, my chest officially sucks. Having spent the last 3 months or so, struggling with breathing (just a minor thing) I've now been given a large dose of steroids in an attempt to knock whatever this crap is on the head once and for all. I've been fannying about with inhalers for months, to no avail, so keep your fingers crossed for me that these tablets now work. And if they don't, well at least I'll be a muscle woman by the weekend... :)

Other than that, eating is going ok. I've felt pretty crappy again the past 5 days so it's put paid to much excess. Exercise is zilch. I really need to get back into the gym, but my doctor has ordered I rest for at least the next 4 days, which I'll find impossible, but the gym will have to go on the back burner for another week. I'm going to work from home for a couple of days, which I suspect is not quite what she meant, but it's step.

Sigh.

In other news, I have the following engagements to try and negotiate whilst attempting to shed some pounds:

Tuesday night - dinner with the girls before an imminent birth (not mine, clearly).
Wednesday night - cinema with the husband
Thursday night - late shift at work (I was meant to be at a spa, but my boss is not in agreement) happiest of days
Saturday - day trip to Paris for lunch (as you do)
Tuesday - Polo! (again as you do)

My life has become ridiculous. I think I really need less social plans!

A winning weight loss formula.

 A week after my return to work and Thailand is all but a distant memory. Boo hiss to real life!

I've not really stopped since we returned, I've been taking it a bit easier at work (by that I mean working 10/11 hour days instead of 15) but I was struck down with some sort of dysentery lasting about 5 days last week, which scuppered my return to the gym. You can't really work out when you are having to run to the loo every 5 mins. On  the plus side, I dropped 6 pounds last week. Every cloud and all that.

Friday saw me fly up to Glasgow for a hen weekend which I'd organised for one of my close friends who I met while working in Prague. She is marrying Matt's best mate, just call me Cilla.

Cheesy hen do shot

We fly out to Greece in 5 weeks time for their wedding so I really need to try and sort myself out before then. They are getting married in Santorini which is very, erm, steep. I don't want to be a complete sweaty mess just getting to our hotel every day so the gym needs to make a sudden appearance. 

Glasgow was good fun, not overly diet friendly, but hey ho. I did dance for about 6 hours on Saturday night plus we did a Glee Dance class on Saturday afternoon (my friend loves performing!) so that's enough exercise for one weekend. Couple that with a dodgy stomach and you're onto a winner, I might try and market this new diet plan. 

I had planned to join my local Slimming World class on Monday, but the Bank holiday put paid to that so that's on the agenda for Monday coming.

So, the plan of action this week - eat less, try to move more. Simples. 

Sawatdee

I'm back after an amazing couple of weeks in Thailand. I totally fell in love with the country and I really don't want to be back at work at all. At least the sun is shining for my return, even if it is about 20 degrees colder than I'd gotten used to.

We spent 4 nights in Bangkok at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which was stunning, followed by 9 nights in Phuket at the Indigo Pearl Resort. I feel totally refreshed, sick of Thai food and beer and ready to get back to some healthy living.

patpong night market

the view from our hotel in Bangkok

from lebua

Nia Yang Beach Phuket

boat trip to Phi Phi

Phi Phi Islands

I had 2 realisations whilst we were away:

1) Work has been killing me. I've not been able to switch off, I've been working at least 12 hour days and for what? I don't earn enough money to kill myself over a job and if my boss is not working these crazy hours, why should I? So it stops now. I do what I can and that's it.

2) I am fatter than I am happy with. I am ok with being fat, but I am not ok with being this fat so I want to lose a couple of stone. I also need to get back to the gym and regain my fitness.

So, the plan of action:

1) Eat healthily again, cut out the random carbs, the excess alcohol, the fatty foods and possibly join a class to keep me on the straight and narrow. I am never going to be thin and I don't want to be, but I do want to be less fat.

2) Get back to the gym, I've 2 PT sessions left then I need to go it alone. If I'm no longer working crazy hours then there is no excuse for me to miss the gym.

Sounds simple, huh?

I need to get back to blogging more regularly to keep me on the straight and narrow, so expect more of my ramblings in the near future :)

AWOL

I've been MIA for a while. Life has been utterly mental of late. Work is driving me crazy and I've spent the last 4 weekends in various parts of the country so this is the first actual Saturday morning I've woken up in my own bed for a while.

So, what is new Chez Linzerello? Not much really. I've managed to drop about 7 pounds over the course of the last few weeks by cutting down my carb intake, but I can't say I've been overly focused on it. This is probably stress related as I'm working on average, 12 hour days, and also at weekends. This does not make for a happy Linz.

Exercise has been more sporadic than planned, my chest has been really bad which means I'm now on 3 different inhalers and a course of steroids. Given I'm the worlds worst hypochondriac, this is not ideal. Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now so hopefully I can get back into regular gym workouts instead of the once a week PT sessions which absolutely kill me.

So, instead of rabbiting on about what I've been doing, I'll leave you with a selection of photos from my last 4 weekends....

Pennyhill Park - utterly fabulous!

The Latymer

Girlie weekend in Manchester...

Jack Spratt Burger

The Place hotel

Devon via Stonehenge and Somerset.

The Lanes Hotel

Hull to visit friends

 Bar snacks - amazing pork pies at Ye Olde Black Boy

Larkins

Actually, reviewing those photos has made me realise I must've been eating a hell of a lot of carbs before if I think I've cut down!

So, this weekend see's me working this morning and then my parents are arriving. No chance of a weekend of doing nothing for me. Sigh.

I might have to try and sneak in a cheeky afternoon snooze, we've woken up to yet more snow (seriously?? BST starts this weekend, sort it out UK) so my motivation to anything other than sit on the sofa is zilch.

Back to work for me now then I'll attempt to catch up on blogs, my social media has taken a battering due to work and we can't be having that.

The wanderer returns with a plan, kind of.

Urgh, I've been away from this little space for a while, again. This is clearly not the best sign....

So, what's been happening Chez Linz? Well, I've been ill (you hear me, another cold leading to another bad chest and therefore no gym for over a week), I've been working crazy hours and I've been spending my weekends rushing about all over the place. 2 weeks ago we drove up to Liverpool to visit friends and then last weekend, my parents came to stay so we spent the weekend entertaining them. We did get to see this however, something we've been missing for a long while in the UK... a beautiful weekend.

So in summary, life has not been very relaxing.

This weekend will rectify all of that. We've spent the last of our wedding fund on 3 nights at the amazing Pennyhill Park hotel and we plan to do as little as possible other than relax in the spa and eat some lovely food. It's Matt's birthday on Monday, so I'm treating him to a meal at the 2 Michelin starred Latymer on Saturday night.

And then, we need to get down to business. It's 7 or so weeks until we fly to Thailand and I really need to lose at least a stone before that. I'm fatter than I've probably ever been (I'm not weighing myself) and I don't expect Thailand will be overly good for the waistline. So as of Monday, I commit to the following:

• Gym at least 3 times a week - no more excuses (unless on death bed again)
• No snacks unless it's fruit. 
• Drink more water than alcohol (seriously, cherry and apple cider is like crack to me at the moment)
• Limited Carbs (kind of like the Harcombe diet, but not as rigid) 

I need to try and do the above with the following already in the diary between now and 15th April when we go away:

• Weekend away with Matt & his birthday
• Dinner with some of the girls
• Dinner out with Matt (Groupon voucher due to expire)
• Dinner at a friends house with some of the other girls
• Weekend with yet more of the girls in Manchester
• Weekend visiting Matt's friends in Tavistock
• Weekend visiting my friends in Hull
• Lunch at the Square rescheduled from January
• Lunch with friends at various houses x 2
• Friends visiting from Scotland

I don't make life easy, do I? Maybe I need to get rid of some friends.... :) 

So wish me luck! This is me today, expect a slimmer version next week.... 

The sitcom of Mr. & Mrs. Jones

Since my last update, I have remained on my healthy eating and limited alcohol, I've even upped the exercise somewhat which has lead to much moaning about aching and the most ridiculous pulled muscles known to man.

We had a pretty lovely weekend, which in true Mr Linzerello style, we managed to turn into a total sit com. I've married an absolute clown :)

Lunch at Le Manoir was pretty special, we managed 6 courses, plus matching wines and therefore ended up in a slightly inebriated state by mid afternoon.

Top - Cornish Mackerel with apple, ginger honey and soy * Soft-fried hen’s egg, watercress purée and Jabugo ham, toasted hazelnuts 
Bottom - Quail, Butternut Squash, red wine and cinnamon * Flavours of Citrus

Unpictured - Spiced Cauliflower velouté with curry oil for starter and a cheese plate with figs... 

We'd booked ourselves into a local B&B, which was essentially the spare room of a woman's house in a lovely 17th Century Thatched cottage. This was the middle of the countryside, and being the ridiculous town's people we are, we really weren't prepared for the remnants of the snow, the muddy fields, the lack of street lighting or the vast number of dogs also sharing our property.

We decided on a trip to the local pub after we'd had lunch in the next village to the B&B. This saw us traipsing through mud in completely inadequate footwear (suede pixie boots anyone?) with a broken torch (which we'd borrowed) to guide us home. After several glasses of wine and several pints, my husband then deemed the various barking dogs (who'd been nothing but friendly earlier on) far too dangerous for us to enter the property.  We sat in the car for a while, we argued in the rain, we discussed at length the possibility we'd be savaged by these killer animals, before eventually deciding we'd have to brave it knowing our landlady was out in Oxford for the evening and unlikely to return any time soon (plus we'd both run out of battery on our phones - genius).

These killer dogs - aka Labradors, completely ignored us upon our entry into the cottage. I've never known such nonchalant animals. Lesson learnt, my husband's judgement is not to be trusted when he's encountered alcohol and we are not cut out for a life in the countryside.

In other news, I've been diagnosed with Adult Onset Asthma and am now on a steroid inhaler twice a day for the next 3 weeks. I find this fairly ridiculous, but according to the Doctor, asthma can be triggered as a result of a virus, and given I've had every virus known to man over the past 4 months, I guess it doesn't seem too far fetched. Let's hope this sorts me out, I've also a preventer inhaler which I'm to take before I go to the gym, so let's see if that stops the feeling of an elephant standing on my chest when I try to run!

Also the health front, this week saw me lose 7 pounds overnight thanks to a delightful vomiting and diarrhoea bug which we picked up from one of my friends nursery dwelling children. I'm going to start visiting anyone with a child, wearing one of those face masks and douse myself liberally in anti-bacterial gel before and after entry to their homes.

So, I've lost weight, despite a 6 course meal and lots of alcohol - clearly germs are the answer.

This weekend should be fairly good too, lunch with the girls tomorrow and a couple of trips to the gym. It's all about balance people.